Well...

Thanks to Steven I've just gone on Babelfish. 'Shepherd' translates as 'Schäferhund', which suggests that the herder is the 'hund'.

Given the ubiquity of dogs as herders, that may well mean that in German a person who herd's animals is a 'dog'. Or, if you like, that the terms 'shepherd' and 'sheepdog' are homonyms.

Fascinating huh? We're both right and we've learned something new about a foreign culture. Marvelous.

Posted By: Boris Johnson MP on June 25th 2008 at 20:38:14

Message Thread

Question... (General Chat) - Boris Johnson MP, Jun 25, 20:21:01
- Pig Fiddler (n/m) (General Chat) - harry boulders, Jun 25, 20:40:57
- Pig farmer, isn't it ? (n/m) (General Chat) - Arganth, Jun 25, 20:22:35
  - Schwein = pig....... Steiger = foreman (General Chat) - Taxi 4 Johnson, Jun 25, 20:30:32
    - the verb steigen meants to rise or mount. Oh dear. (General Chat) - steven, Jun 25, 20:33:24
      - lol (n/m) (General Chat) - Taxi 4 Johnson, Jun 25, 20:36:36
  - or pig herder (i.e a shepherd of pigs) (n/m) (General Chat) - steven, Jun 25, 20:24:44
    - I thought that was shwienhund (General Chat) - Boris Johnson MP, Jun 25, 20:27:08
      - maybe :-s? babelfish translates "steiger" as "riser" (General Chat) - steven, Jun 25, 20:29:23
        
        Babelfish is absolutely shite though (General Chat) - Worzel Scrimmage, Jun 25, 21:01:35
        
        Flying pigs. (n/m) (General Chat) - DrDublin, Jun 25, 20:29:42
      - ^^ schweinhund (n/m) (General Chat) - Boris Johnson MP, Jun 25, 20:27:34
        
        That's pig dog. (n/m) (General Chat) - Arganth, Jun 25, 20:30:17
        
        Well... (General Chat) - Boris Johnson MP, Jun 25, 20:38:14

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